Curfews and culture in plan to cut youth crime

By AUDREY YOUNG

Curfews, electronic ankle tags and compulsory culturally-based programmes are among new proposals to cut youth crime.

Two pilot day-reporting centres will be established for about 130 offenders a year, Justice Minister Phil Goff said.

One would be in Auckland, and they would be guaranteed $12 million over four years.

They would be be part of this year's Budget, and others would be established in every region of they prove successful, even after one year.

Other youth justice plans announced yesterday include:

* A pilot residential programme for high-risk serious offenders for up to a year instead of the present three-month programmes directed by the Youth Court.

* A pilot youth drug court focused on treatment, which has been running for a month in Christchurch.

* An integrated database for tracking offenders through the justice system involving Child Youth and Family Services, Police, Courts, and Corrections data.

* New local youth offending teams for better co-ordination among agencies.

Youth justice applies to 14 to 16 year-olds and is administered by CYFS. The new plan is an extension to $93 million over four years allocated in last year's Budget for youth offending programmes.

The proposals are the Government's response to criticism on serious youth offending made by a ministerial taskforce. It was led by Chief District Court Judge David Carruthers, formerly the Principal Youth Court Judge.

The taskforce report said agencies involved in youth justice often co-ordinated inadequately.

It also criticised what it called inadequacies in family group conferences, particularly the carrying out of decisions made at them.

The day centres will cater for serious offenders but not those needing a residential programme.

Corrections Minister Matt Robson said offenders under day-reporting centres would be intensively supervised initially for seven days, but they could graduate to less supervision.

He also said the offenders could face curfews and be made to wear electronic bracelets.

He said 60 per cent of youth offenders were Maori and up to 10 per cent Pacific Islanders.

Programmes at the day-reporting centres would be "based on people's culture" and the strengths of the communities they came from.

The Principal Youth Court Judge, Andrew Becroft, said the taskforce was consistently asked whether youth justice should continue to be delivered by CYFS.

"Our clear response is yes, it should ... but that is on the express basis that there be a clear ring-fencing of resources for youth justice, that there is training, resourcing and leadership that ensures those services are delivered in a much more comprehensive way."

He said there were two types of young offenders "and for too long we have used 'one-size-fits-all' templates."

About 80 per cent of young offenders contributed to only 20 per cent of total youth offending and would be helped to "exit the system very early".

A much smaller group committed up to 80 per cent of offences.

"They are a small group in every community that cause significant local problems. That is the group that we must do better with."